Method, device, and computer program product for managing virtual visual content

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a method, a device, and a computer program product for managing virtual visual content. A method for managing virtual visual content is provided, which includes: determining a plurality of content portions from virtual visual content that is to be interacted with a user, the plurality of content portions having different change frequencies in the interaction; and transmitting, based on the change frequencies, the plurality of content portions to a plurality of computing devices having different proximities to the user, respectively. Through the embodiments of the present disclosure, the delay of a user interacting with virtual visual content can be reduced.

RELATED APPLICATION(S)

The present application claims priority to Chinese Patent ApplicationNo. 202011056325.3, Sep. 30, 2020, and entitled “Method, Device, andComputer Program Product for Managing Virtual Visual Content,” which isincorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field ofinformation processing, and in particular, to a method, a device, and acomputer program product for managing virtual visual content.

BACKGROUND

The presentation of virtual visual content can bring a rich and vividexperience to people. A virtual visual content presentation technologyis computationally intensive, which requires powerful processingcapabilities and sufficient storage space. Some conventional solutionsenable processing in the virtual visual content presentation technologyto be performed at computationally powerful devices remote from userequipment for viewing virtual visual content. However, such solutionstend to result in increased delays in user interaction with the virtualvisual content.

In order to reduce the delay, other conventional solutions integrate theprocessing in the virtual visual content presentation technology on theuser equipment for viewing the virtual visual content as much aspossible. However, such solutions not only make a content viewing deviceof a user expensive and oversized, but also cause the content viewingdevice to overheat and to have a shortened service life due to anexcessive load.

SUMMARY

Illustrative embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method, adevice, and a computer program product for managing virtual visualcontent.

In a first aspect of the present disclosure, a method for managingvirtual visual content is provided. The method includes: determining aplurality of content portions from virtual visual content that is to beinteracted with a user, the plurality of content portions havingdifferent change frequencies in the interaction; and transmitting, basedon the change frequencies, the plurality of content portions to aplurality of computing devices having different proximities to the user,respectively.

In a second aspect of the present disclosure, an electronic device isprovided. The device includes: at least one processing unit; and atleast one memory coupled to the at least one processing unit and storinginstructions configured to be executed by the at least one processingunit. The instructions, when executed by the at least one processingunit, cause the device to perform actions including: determining aplurality of content portions from virtual visual content that is to beinteracted with a user, the plurality of content portions havingdifferent change frequencies in the interaction; and transmitting, basedon the change frequencies, the plurality of content portions to aplurality of computing devices having different proximities to the user,respectively.

In a third aspect of the present disclosure, a computer program productis provided. The computer program product is tangibly stored in anon-transitory computer storage medium and includes machine-executableinstructions. The machine-executable instructions, when executed by adevice, cause this device to implement any step of the method describedaccording to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

This Summary is provided to introduce the choice of concepts in asimplified form, which will be further described in the followingDetailed Description. The Summary is neither intended to identifyimportant features or essential features of the present disclosure, norintended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objectives, features, and advantages of the presentdisclosure will become more apparent from the following detaileddescription of example embodiments in combination with the accompanyingdrawings. In the example embodiments of the present disclosure, the samereference numerals generally represent the same parts.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an example visual content managementsystem in which an embodiment of the present disclosure can beimplemented;

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of an example method for managing virtualvisual content according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of an example method for determining aplurality of content portions from a virtual visual content portionaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4A shows a schematic diagram of a result of applying a backgroundsubtraction or motion detection method to virtual visual contentaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4B shows a schematic diagram of a result of applying a machinelearning-based object detection method to virtual visual contentaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram of virtual visual content suitable foran embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 6 shows a schematic block diagram of an example device that may beconfigured to implement an embodiment of the present disclosure.

In the accompanying drawings, the same or corresponding numeralsrepresent the same or corresponding parts.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Illustrative embodiments of the present disclosure will be described inmore detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Althoughthe illustrative embodiments of the present disclosure are shown in theaccompanying drawings, it should be understood that the presentdisclosure can be implemented in various forms and should not be limitedby the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments areprovided to make the present disclosure more thorough and complete andto fully convey the scope of the present disclosure to those skilled inthe art.

The term “include” and its variants as used herein indicate open-endedinclusion, that is, “including, but not limited to.” Unless specificallystated, the term “or” indicates “and/or.” The term “based on” indicates“based at least in part on.” The terms “an example embodiment” and “anembodiment” indicate “at least one example embodiment.” The term“another embodiment” indicates “at least one additional embodiment.” Theterms “first,” “second,” and the like may refer to different oridentical objects. Other explicit and implicit definitions may also beincluded below.

As mentioned above, the presentation of virtual visual content can bringa rich and vivid experience to people. For example, Augmented Reality(AR) can integrate virtual information with the real world, so thatpeople get an enhanced experience of the real world. Virtual Reality(VR) can provide an immersive virtual environment experience to people.With the development of technology, a virtual visual contentpresentation technology is applied in various industries.

The virtual visual content presentation technology such as AR and VR iscomputationally intensive, which requires powerful processingcapabilities and sufficient storage space. Some conventional solutionsenable processing in the virtual visual content presentation technologyto be performed at computationally powerful devices remote from contentviewing devices of users. However, such solutions tend to result inincreased delays in user interaction with the virtual visual content.Since human beings are very sensitive to the delay of virtual visualcontent, a too large delay will cause disorientation and nausea forusers viewing virtual visual content. Therefore, the virtual visualcontent presentation technology must meet higher delay requirements.Generally speaking, an acceptable delay is within 5 milliseconds. Oncethe delay requirement is not met, users will feel uncomfortable, whichgreatly reduces user satisfaction.

In order to reduce the delay, other conventional solutions integrate theprocessing in the virtual visual content presentation technology oncontent viewing devices for viewing the virtual visual content as muchas possible. The content viewing devices are, for example, AR/VRheadsets, AR glasses, etc. However, because the virtual visual contentpresentation technology is computationally intensive, integrating thevirtual visual content presentation technology on the content viewingdevice not only makes the content viewing device expensive andoversized, but also causes the content viewing device to overheat and tohave a shortened service life due to an excessive load.

Illustrative embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solutionfor managing virtual visual content, so as to solve the above problemsand one or more of other potential problems. The solution determines aplurality of content portions having different change frequencies in theinteraction from virtual visual content that is to be interacted with auser, and transmits, according to the change frequencies, the pluralityof content portions to a plurality of computing devices having differentproximities to the user, respectively. Through such a solution, thedelay in the interaction between the user and the virtual visual contentcan be effectively reduced.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of example visual content management system100 in which an embodiment of the present disclosure can be implemented.As shown in FIG. 1, visual content management system 100 includes visualcontent management device 110 and computing devices 120-1 to 120-3(collectively referred to as computing device 120). Various methodsaccording to the embodiments of the present disclosure may beimplemented at an electronic device such as visual content managementdevice 110.

As shown in FIG. 1, visual content management device 110 may determine aplurality of content portions 140-1 to 140-3 (collectively referred toas content portion 140) from virtual visual content 130 that is to beinteracted with a user. The plurality of content portions 140-1 to 140-3have different change frequencies in this interaction. Visual contentmanagement device 110 may transmit the plurality of content portions140-1 to 140-3 to the plurality of computing devices 120-1 to 120-3having different proximities to the user, respectively.

Visual content management device 110 may be, for example, a computer, avirtual machine, a server, a cloud computing device, etc. The pluralityof computing devices 120 may be devices that have different proximitiesto the user. Herein, “proximity” may refer to the degree of proximity inspatial distance, or the speed of transmitting visual content. Havingdifferent proximities to the user means that the delays required for theuser to interact with the virtual visual content are different.Additionally, the plurality of computing devices 120 may be deviceshaving different processing capabilities. For example, in someembodiments, computing device 120 may be an AR/VR content viewingdevice. The AR/VR content viewing device may be a smart phone, a smarttablet, a smart wearable device, an independent AR/VR headset,independent AR glasses, etc. Alternatively or additionally, in someembodiments, computing device 120 may be an edge server. Alternativelyor additionally, in some embodiments, computing device 120 may be acloud computing device. Visual content management device 110 andcomputing device 120 may be connected to each other through a network.The network may be the Internet, intranet, etc. The present disclosureis not limited in this regard.

It should be understood that the structure of visual content managementsystem 100 is described for exemplary purposes only, and does not implyany limitation on the scope of the present disclosure. For example, theembodiments of the present disclosure may also be applied to a systemdifferent from visual content management system 100. It should beunderstood that the specific number of the above devices, virtual visualcontent, and content portions is given for illustrative purposes only,and does not imply any limitation to the scope of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of example method 200 for managing virtualvisual content according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Forexample, method 200 may be performed by visual content management device110 shown in FIG. 1. It should be understood that method 200 may also beperformed by other devices, and the scope of the present disclosure isnot limited in this regard. It should also be understood that method 200may also include additional actions not shown and/or omit the actionsshown, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in thisregard.

At 210, visual content management device 110 determines a plurality ofcontent portions 140 from virtual visual content 130 that is to beinteracted with a user. The plurality of content portions 140 havedifferent change frequencies in this interaction. Virtual visual content130 that is to be interacted with the user may be obtained by visualcontent management device 110 from a virtual visual content library. Insome embodiments, the virtual visual content library may be located invisual content management device 110. Additionally or alternatively, insome embodiments, the virtual visual content library may be located in adevice separate from visual content management device 110.

Generally, virtual visual content 130 includes content portions 140 thathave different change frequencies in interaction. In some embodiments,virtual visual content 130 may include content portions that hardlychange in interaction with the user. These content portions may beconstant or may change with a very low frequency. For example, in ascene where virtual visual content 130 is an indoor home, these contentportions may be indoor floors and walls, outdoor scenery, etc.Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, virtual visualcontent 130 may include content portions that change moderately in theinteraction with the user. For example, these content portions may bemoving people, changing light, etc. Additionally or alternatively, insome embodiments, virtual visual content 130 may include contentportions that change frequently in the interaction with the user. Forexample, these content portions may be buttons, doors, selection panelsor switches, etc., and the user may interact with these content portionsto change the presented virtual visual content.

Visual content management device 110 may determine a plurality ofcontent portions 140 having different change frequencies from virtualvisual content 130 through various methods such as computer vision andmachine learning. In some embodiments, visual content management device110 may determine a static content portion and a dynamic content portionfrom virtual visual content 130. The change frequency of the dynamiccontent portion is higher than that of the static content portion.Additionally, in some embodiments, visual content management device 110may determine a first dynamic content portion and a second dynamiccontent portion from the dynamic content portion. The change frequencyof the second dynamic content portion is higher than that of the firstdynamic content portion. The details of determining the plurality ofcontent portions 140 from virtual visual content 130 will be describedin detail below with reference to FIGS. 3, 4A, and 4B.

After determining the plurality of content portions 140, at 220, visualcontent management device 110 transmits, according to the changefrequencies, the plurality of content portions 140 to a plurality ofcomputing devices 120 having different proximities to the user,respectively.

Having different proximities to the user means that the delays requiredfor the user to interact with the virtual visual content are different.The content portion having a low change frequency does not need to beupdated frequently, so it may be processed by a computing device not inrelatively close proximity to the user, which does not cause anunacceptable transmission delay. On the contrary, the content portionhaving a higher change frequency may be processed by a computing devicein relatively close proximity to the user, thereby ensuring that thetransmission delay of visual content is within an acceptable range.Therefore, visual content management device 110 may transmit contentportions having a low change frequency in the plurality of contentportions 140 to a computing device that is not in relatively closeproximity to the user, and transmit content portions having a highchange frequency in the plurality of content portions 140 to a computingdevice that is in relatively close proximity to the user.

In some embodiments, computing device 120 may be an AR/VR contentviewing device. The AR/VR content viewing device may be a smart phone, asmart tablet, a smart wearable device, an independent AR/VR headset,independent AR glasses, etc. Alternatively or additionally, in someembodiments, computing device 120 may be an edge server. Alternativelyor additionally, in some embodiments, computing device 120 may be acloud computing device.

In addition, since the content portion having a low change frequencyoften contains many details and needs to be processed by a computingdevice having powerful computing capability, visual content managementdevice 110 may transmit the content portion to a computationallypowerful device not in relatively close proximity to the user forprocessing.

For example, if virtual visual content 130 includes a static contentportion having a low change frequency and a dynamic content portionhaving a high change frequency and computing devices 120 include anAR/VR content viewing device in relatively close proximity to the userand a cloud computing device not in relatively close proximity to theuser, visual content management device 110 may transmit the staticcontent portion to the cloud computing device and the dynamic contentportion to the AR/VR content viewing device.

Similarly, if virtual visual content 130 includes a static contentportion, a first dynamic content portion, and a second dynamic contentportion, which are sequentially arranged in an ascending order of changefrequencies, and computing devices 120 include an AR/VR content viewingdevice, an edge server, and a cloud computing device, which aresequentially arranged in an order of decreasing relative proximities tothe user, visual content management device 110 may transmit the staticcontent portion to the cloud computing device, transmit the firstdynamic content portion to the edge server, and transmit the seconddynamic content portion to the AR/VR content viewing device.

As mentioned above, it is advantageous to manage virtual visual contentin this way. The content portion having a higher change frequency isprocessed by a computing device having relatively close proximity to theuser, thereby ensuring that the transmission delay of visual content iswithin an acceptable range. The content portion having a low changefrequency does not need to be updated frequently, so it is processed bya computing device not having relatively close proximity to the user,which does not cause an unacceptable transmission delay.

In addition, the content portion having a low change frequency istransmitted to a computationally powerful computing device not inrelatively close proximity to the user for processing, and a localcomputing device in relatively close proximity to the user may beunloaded, thereby reducing the cost and size of the local computingdevice and prolonging the service life of the local computing device.

In the above example embodiment, a plurality of content portions havingdifferent change frequencies in interaction are determined from virtualvisual content that is to be interacted with a user, and the pluralityof content portions are transmitted to a plurality of computing deviceshaving different proximities to the user according to the changefrequencies respectively, which not only can reduce the delay of userinteraction with the virtual visual content, but also can reduce thecost and size of user equipment for viewing virtual visual content andprolong the service life of the user equipment.

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of example method 300 for determining aplurality of content portions from a virtual visual content portionaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure. For example,method 300 may be performed by visual content management device 110shown in FIG. 1. Method 300 is an embodiment of 210 in method 200. Itshould be understood that method 300 may also be executed by otherdevices. The scope of the present disclosure is not limited in thisregard. It should be further understood that method 300 may furtherinclude additional actions that are not shown and/or may skip actionsthat are shown. The scope of the present disclosure is not limited inthis regard.

At 310, visual content management device 110 determines a static contentportion and a dynamic content portion from virtual visual content 130.The change frequency of the dynamic content portion is higher than thatof the static content portion. Visual content management device 110 maydetermine a static content portion and a dynamic content portion fromvirtual visual content 130 through various methods such as computervision and machine learning, so as to provide different content portionsto computing devices having different proximities to a user.

For example, in some embodiments, visual content management device 110may apply background subtraction to virtual visual content 130 so as todetermine a first content portion and a second content portion from thedynamic content portion. The change frequency of the second contentportion is higher than that of the first content portion. The backgroundsubtraction is a classic computer vision method for separatingbackground objects from foreground objects. The background subtractionis, for example, background subtraction based on a Gaussian mixturemodel. For a detailed description of the example background subtractionmethod, reference may be made to the following document: M. Chen et al.“Spatiotemporal GMM for Background Subtraction with SuperpixelHierarchy,” IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and MachineIntelligence, Vol. 40, Issue 6, Jun. 1, 2018, pp. 1518-1525. Inembodiments of the present disclosure, a background object maycorrespond to the first content portion, and a foreground object maycorrespond to the second content portion. After determining the firstcontent portion and the second content portion from virtual visualcontent 130, visual content management device 110 may determine thefirst content portion and the second content portion as a static contentportion and a dynamic content portion, respectively.

Alternatively or additionally, in some embodiments, visual contentmanagement device 110 may apply a motion detection method to virtualvisual content 130 so as to determine a first content portion and asecond content portion from the dynamic content portion. The changefrequency of the second content portion is higher than that of the firstcontent portion. For example, visual content management device 110 mayuse an optical flow-based motion detection method to detect movingobjects in virtual visual content 130. For a detailed description of theexample motion detection method, reference may be made to the followingdocument: J. Huang et al., “An Efficient Optical Flow Based MotionDetection Method for Non-Stationary Scenes,” 2019 IEEE Chinese Controland Decision Conference (CCDC), June 2019, pp. 5272-5277.

The result of the background subtraction or motion detection method isdescribed below with reference to FIG. 4A. FIG. 4A shows schematicdiagram 410 of a result of applying a background subtraction or motiondetection method to virtual visual content according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 4A, applying a backgroundsubtraction or motion detection method to virtual visual content 412will result in a processed virtual visual content 414. In the processedvirtual visual content 414, a black area indicates a background objectarea, and a white area indicates a foreground object area. In this case,visual content management device 110 may determine a content portioncorresponding to the black area as a static content portion, and acontent portion corresponding to the white area as a dynamic contentportion.

Alternatively or additionally, in some embodiments, visual contentmanagement device 110 may apply machine learning-based object detectionto virtual visual content 130 so as to determine a first content portionand a second content portion from the dynamic content portion. Thechange frequency of the second content portion is higher than that ofthe first content portion. For example, visual content management device110 may apply a trained machine learning model or deep learning model toan input image including a foreground object and a background object todetect the foreground object from the input image. For a detaileddescription of the example machine learning-based object detectionmethod, reference may be made to the following document: Joseph Redmonet al., “You Only Look Once: Unified, Real-Time Object Detection,” 2016IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognitions (CVPR), June2016.

The result of the object detection method is described below withreference to FIG. 4B. FIG. 4B shows schematic diagram 420 of a result ofapplying a machine learning-based object detection method to virtualvisual content according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Asshown in FIG. 4B, applying a machine learning-based object detectionmethod to virtual visual content 422 will result in foreground objects424, 426, and 428 of different categories. Foreground object 424 belongsto a vehicle category, foreground objects 426-1 to 426-4 belong to aperson category, and foreground object 428 belongs to a striped crossingcategory. In this case, visual content management device 110 maydetermine foreground objects 424, 426, and 428 as dynamic contentportions, and determine the remaining content portions in virtual visualcontent 422 as static content portions.

At 320, visual content management device 110 determines a first dynamiccontent portion and a second dynamic content portion from the dynamiccontent portion. The change frequency of the second dynamic contentportion is higher than that of the first dynamic content portion.

In some embodiments, visual content management device 110 may apply theabove-described method for determining the static content portion andthe dynamic content portion from virtual visual content 130 to thedynamic content portion again, thereby determining the first dynamiccontent portion and the second dynamic content portion from the dynamiccontent portion. Further dividing the dynamic content portion enablesthe dynamic content portion to be further refined into content portionshaving different change frequencies, so that the dynamic content portionis also transmitted to different devices for processing, thereby furtherreducing the delay of interaction with the user, and further reducingthe load of user equipment for viewing virtual visual content.

Alternatively or additionally, in some embodiments, visual contentmanagement device 110 may determine change frequency statistics on thedynamic content portion, and then determine a content portion having alow change frequency according to the statistics as the first dynamiccontent portion and a content portion having a high change frequencyaccording to the statistics as the second dynamic content portion. It iseasy to understand that different virtual visual content has differentcharacteristics, so it is also suitable for different content portiondivision methods. Some virtual visual content can be well separated intocontent portions having different change frequencies using statistics.For such virtual visual content, a statistical method may be used todetermine the first dynamic content portion and the second dynamiccontent portion.

Alternatively or additionally, in some embodiments, visual contentmanagement device 110 may use a sensor of an AR/VR device worn by a userwhen viewing historical visual content to obtain motion information ofthe user, and then determine a visual focus area of the user based onthe motion information. Visual content management device 110 maydetermine a content portion corresponding to the visual focus area inthe dynamic content portion as the second dynamic content portion.Alternatively, in some embodiments, visual content management device 110may directly obtain the determined visual focus area from the AR/VRdevice or a local storage library. The motion information of the usermay be eyeball motion information of the user. Additionally oralternatively, the motion information of the user may also be headmotion information of the user. Such a content portion division methodmay take visual focus area information of the user into consideration.Since the visual focus area often corresponds to a content portionhaving a high change frequency, such a content portion division methodimproves the efficiency and accuracy of content portion division.

Alternatively or additionally, in some embodiments, visual contentmanagement device 110 may determine the first dynamic content portionand the second dynamic content portion according to pre-configuredlabels. For example, some virtual visual content may be manually markedwith labels respectively corresponding to the first dynamic contentportion and the second dynamic content portion according to theexperience of experts. In this case, visual content management device110 may directly determine the first dynamic content portion and thesecond dynamic content portion according to the labels. Such a contentportion division method may benefit from the experience of experts,thereby improving the accuracy of content portion division.

It should be understood that some computer vision and machine learningmethods are shown for illustrative purposes only, and do not imply anylimitation to the scope of the present disclosure. For example, othercomputer vision and machine learning methods may also be used todetermine a plurality of content portions from the virtual visualcontent. The present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

In the above example embodiment, a static content portion and a dynamiccontent portion are determined from virtual visual content, and a firstdynamic content portion and a second dynamic content portion aredetermined from the dynamic content portion. The virtual visual contentcan be divided into content portions having different change frequenciesto make it possible to manage different content portions by a pluralityof computing devices having different proximities to a user.

FIG. 5 shows schematic diagram 500 of virtual visual content suitablefor an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 5 shows virtual visualcontent used for indoor home design. People can use a content viewingdevice to walk in an empty room, and then put different furniture,decoration, or other items into the room to view virtual effects toevaluate different home designs.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, visual content managementdevice 110 may determine a static content portion, for example, thestructure of a room such as walls, doors, or windows from the virtualvisual content, as shown in blocks 512 and 514. These content portionsdo not change, or only change once (for example, the color of wallpaperchanges), or the change frequency is very low (for example, lightingconditions or outdoor weather conditions change slowly). Visual contentmanagement device 110 may transmit the determined static contentportions to a cloud computing device, so that these static contentportions are processed and drawn by the cloud computing device.

Visual content management device 110 may also determine a dynamiccontent portion from the virtual visual content, that is, foregroundobjects, such as chairs, tables, and other furniture, as shown in blocks522, 524, and 526. These foreground objects may be placed in differentpositions. Visual content management device 110 may transmit theseforeground objects to an edge server closer to the user than the cloudcomputing device, so that the edge server processes and draws the shapeand appearance of these foreground objects in the environment to reducedelay.

Visual content management device 110 may also determine a user interfaceselection area that interacts with the user most frequently from thevirtual visual content, as shown in block 530. For such a user interfaceselection area, visual content management device 110 may transmit it touser equipment, so that the user equipment directly processes a receiveduser input to reduce the delay.

FIG. 6 shows a schematic block diagram of example device 600 that may beconfigured to implement an embodiment of the present disclosure. Forexample, visual content management device 110 as shown in FIG. 1 may beimplemented by device 600. As shown in FIG. 6, device 600 includescomputing unit 601, illustratively a central processing unit (CPU),which may execute various appropriate actions and processing inaccordance with computer program instructions stored in read-only memory(ROM) 602 or computer program instructions loaded from storage unit 608onto random access memory (RAM) 603. In RAM 603, various programs anddata required for the operation of device 600 may also be stored.Computing unit 601, ROM 602, and RAM 603 are connected to one anotherthrough bus 604. Input/output (I/O) interface 605 is also connected tobus 604.

A plurality of components in device 600 are connected to I/O interface605, including: input unit 606, such as a keyboard and a mouse; outputunit 607, such as various types of displays and speakers; storage unit608, such as a magnetic disk and an optical disk; and communication unit609, such as a network card, a modem, and a wireless communicationtransceiver. Communication unit 609 allows device 600 to exchangeinformation/data with other devices over a computer network such as theInternet and/or various telecommunication networks.

The various processes and processing described above, such as methods200 and 300, may be performed by computing unit 601. For example, insome embodiments, methods 200 and 300 may be implemented as a computersoftware program that is tangibly included in a machine-readable mediumsuch as storage unit 608. In some embodiments, part or all of thecomputer program may be loaded and/or installed onto device 600 via ROM602 and/or communication unit 609. When the computer program is loadedto RAM 603 and executed by computing unit 601, one or more actions ofmethods 200 and 300 described above may be executed.

Illustrative embodiments of the present disclosure include a method, anapparatus, a system, and/or a computer program product. The computerprogram product may include a computer-readable storage medium on whichcomputer-readable program instructions for performing various aspects ofthe present disclosure are loaded.

The computer-readable storage medium may be a tangible device that mayretain and store instructions for use by an instruction-executingdevice. For example, the computer-readable storage medium may be, but isnot limited to, an electrical storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of the above.More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer-readablestorage medium include: a portable computer disk, a hard disk drive,RAM, ROM, an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flashmemory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portable compact diskread-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD), a memorystick, a floppy disk, a mechanical encoding device such as a punch cardor a raised structure in a groove having instructions stored thereon,and any suitable combination thereof. The computer-readable storagemedium used here is not construed as transient signals per se, such asradio waves or other freely propagating electromagnetic waves,electromagnetic waves propagating through waveguides or other transfermedia (for example, optical pulses through fiber-optic cables), orelectrical signals transmitted through electrical wires.

The computer-readable program instructions described herein may bedownloaded from a computer-readable storage medium to variouscomputing/processing devices, or downloaded to an external computer orexternal storage device via a network such as the Internet, a local areanetwork, a wide area network, and/or a wireless network. The network mayinclude copper transmission cables, optical fiber transmission, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers, and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer-readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer-readable programinstructions for storage in the computer-readable storage medium in eachcomputing/processing device.

The computer program instructions for performing the operations of thepresent disclosure may be assembly instructions, instruction setarchitecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions, machine-relatedinstructions, microcode, firmware instructions, state setting data, orsource code or object code written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages. The programming languages include object-orientedprogramming languages such as Smalltalk and C++ and conventionalprocedural programming languages such as “C” language or similarprogramming languages. The computer-readable program instructions may beexecuted entirely on a user computer, partly on a user computer, as astandalone software package, partly on a user computer and partly on aremote computer, or entirely on a remote computer or a server. In thecase where a remote computer is involved, the remote computer may beconnected to a user computer over any kind of networks, including alocal area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or may beconnected to an external computer (e.g., connected over the Internetusing an Internet service provider). In some embodiments, an electroniccircuit, such as a programmable logic circuit, a field-programmable gatearray (FPGA), or a programmable logic array (PLA), is customized byutilizing state information of the computer-readable programinstructions. The electronic circuit may execute the computer-readableprogram instructions so as to implement various aspects of the presentdisclosure.

Various aspects of the present disclosure are described here withreference to flowcharts and/or block diagrams of the methods, theapparatuses (systems), and the computer program products according tothe embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be understood thateach block in the flowcharts and/or block diagrams as well as acombination of blocks in the flowcharts and/or block diagrams may beimplemented by using computer-readable program instructions.

The computer-readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessing apparatus of a general purpose computer, a special purposecomputer, or another programmable data processing apparatus to produce amachine, such that the instructions, when executed by the processingapparatus of the computer or another programmable data processingapparatus, generate an apparatus for implementing the functions/actionsspecified in one or more blocks in the flowcharts and/or block diagrams.The computer-readable program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable storage medium. These instructions cause a computer, aprogrammable data processing apparatus, and/or another device to operatein a particular manner, such that the computer-readable medium storingthe instructions includes an article of manufacture that includesinstructions for implementing various aspects of the functions/actionsspecified in one or more blocks in the flowcharts and/or block diagrams.

The computer-readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatuses, or otherdevices, so that a series of operating steps are performed on thecomputer, other programmable data processing apparatuses, or otherdevices to produce a computer-implemented process, so that theinstructions executed on the computer, other programmable dataprocessing apparatuses, or other devices implement the functions/actionsspecified in one or more blocks in the flowcharts and/or block diagrams.

The flowcharts and block diagrams in the accompanying drawings show thearchitectures, functionalities, and operations of possibleimplementations of the system, the method, and the computer programproduct according to multiple embodiments of the present disclosure. Inthis regard, each block in the flowcharts or block diagrams mayrepresent a module, a program segment, or part of an instruction, themodule, program segment, or part of an instruction including one or moreexecutable instructions for implementing specified logical functions. Insome alternative implementations, the functions marked in the blocks mayalso occur in an order different from that marked in the accompanyingdrawings. For example, two successive blocks may actually be executed inparallel substantially, or they may be executed in an opposite ordersometimes, depending on the functions involved. It should be furthernoted that each block in the block diagrams and/or flowcharts as well asa combination of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowcharts may beimplemented by using a special hardware-based system for executingspecified functions or actions or by a combination of special hardwareand computer instructions.

The embodiments of the present disclosure have been described above. Theabove description is illustrative, rather than exhaustive, and is notlimited to the disclosed embodiments. Numerous modifications andalterations are apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art withoutdeparting from the scope and spirit of the illustrated variousembodiments. The selection of terms as used herein is intended to bestexplain the principles and practical applications of the variousembodiments or technical improvements to technologies on the market, andto otherwise enable persons of ordinary skill in the art to understandthe various embodiments disclosed herein.

1. A method for managing virtual visual content, comprising: determiningcontent portions from virtual visual content to be interacted with auser, the content portions having different change frequencies; andtransmitting the content portions to respective computing devices, atleast some of the computing devices having different proximities to theuser; wherein transmitting the content portions is determined based onat least the change frequencies of the virtual visual content and onproximities of the respective computing devices to the user.
 2. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein determining the content portionsfrom the virtual visual content comprises: determining a static contentportion and a dynamic content portion from the virtual visual content,the change frequency of the dynamic content portion being higher thanthat of the static content portion.
 3. The method according to claim 2,wherein determining the static content portion and the dynamic contentportion from the virtual visual content comprises: determining a firstcontent portion and a second content portion from the virtual visualcontent by applying at least one of background subtraction, motiondetection, and object detection to the virtual visual content, thechange frequency of the second content portion being higher than that ofthe first content portion; and determining the first content portion andthe second content portion as the static content portion and the dynamiccontent portion, respectively.
 4. The method according to claim 2,wherein determining the content portions from the virtual visual contentfurther comprises: determining a first dynamic content portion and asecond dynamic content portion from the dynamic content portion, thechange frequency of the second dynamic content portion being higher thanthat of the first dynamic content portion.
 5. The method according toclaim 4, wherein determining the first dynamic content portion and thesecond dynamic content portion from the dynamic content portioncomprises: determining change frequency statistics on the dynamiccontent portion; and dividing the dynamic content portion into the firstdynamic content portion and the second dynamic content portion based onthe statistics.
 6. The method according to claim 4, wherein determiningthe first dynamic content portion and the second dynamic content portionfrom the dynamic content portion comprises: obtaining a visual focusarea of the user, the visual focus area being determined based on motioninformation of a time when the user interacts with historical visualcontent, the motion information being obtained from a viewing deviceworn by the user when viewing the historical visual content; anddetermining a content portion corresponding to the visual focus area inthe dynamic content portion as the second dynamic content portion. 7.The method according to claim 6, wherein the motion informationcomprises at least one of the following: eyeball motion information andhead motion information.
 8. The method according to claim 1, whereintransmitting the content portions to the respective computing devicescomprises: transmitting a first content portion in the content portionsto a first computing device, and transmitting a second content portionin the content portions to a second computing device, the changefrequency of the second content portion being higher than the changefrequency of the first content portion, and the proximity of the secondcomputing device to the user being relatively closer to the user thanthe proximity of the first computing device to the user.
 9. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the respective computing devices compriseat least one of the following: an augmented reality/virtual realitycontent viewing device, an edge server, and a cloud computing device.10. An electronic device, comprising: at least one processing unit; andat least one memory coupled to the at least one processing unit andstoring instructions configured to be executed by the at least oneprocessing unit, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at leastone processing unit, cause the device to perform actions comprising:determining a content portions from virtual visual content to beinteracted with a user, the content portions having different changefrequencies; and transmitting the content portions to a respectivecomputing devices, at least some of the computing devices havingdifferent proximities to the user; wherein transmitting the contentportions is determined based on at least the change frequencies of thevirtual visual content and on proximities of the respective computingdevices to the user.
 11. The device according to claim 10, whereindetermining the content portions from the virtual visual contentcomprises: determining a static content portion and a dynamic contentportion from the virtual visual content, the change frequency of thedynamic content portion being higher than that of the static contentportion.
 12. The device according to claim 11, wherein determining thestatic content portion and the dynamic content portion from the virtualvisual content comprises: determining a first content portion and asecond content portion from the virtual visual content by applying atleast one of background subtraction, motion detection, and objectdetection to the virtual visual content, the change frequency of thesecond content portion being higher than that of the first contentportion; and determining the first content portion and the secondcontent portion as the static content portion and the dynamic contentportion, respectively.
 13. The device according to claim 11, whereindetermining the content portions from the virtual visual content furthercomprises: determining a first dynamic content portion and a seconddynamic content portion from the dynamic content portion, the changefrequency of the second dynamic content portion being higher than thatof the first dynamic content portion.
 14. The device according to claim13, wherein determining the first dynamic content portion and the seconddynamic content portion from the dynamic content portion comprises:determining change frequency statistics on the dynamic content portion;and dividing the dynamic content portion into the first dynamic contentportion and the second dynamic content portion based on the statistics.15. The device according to claim 13, wherein determining the firstdynamic content portion and the second dynamic content portion from thedynamic content portion comprises: obtaining a visual focus area of theuser, the visual focus area being determined based on motion informationof a time when the user interacts with historical visual content, themotion information being obtained from a viewing device worn by the userwhen viewing the historical visual content; and determining a contentportion corresponding to the visual focus area in the dynamic contentportion as the second dynamic content portion.
 16. The device accordingto claim 15, wherein the motion information comprises at least one ofthe following: eyeball motion information and head motion information.17. The device according to claim 10, wherein respectively transmittingthe content portions to the respective computing devices comprises:transmitting a first content portion in the content portions to a firstcomputing device, and transmitting a second content portion in thecontent portions to a second computing device, the change frequency ofthe second content portion being higher than the change frequency of thefirst content portion, and the proximity of the second computing deviceto the user being relatively closer to the user than the proximity ofthe first computing device to the user.
 18. The device according toclaim 10, wherein the respective computing devices comprise at least oneof the following: an augmented reality/virtual reality content viewingdevice, an edge server, and a cloud computing device.
 19. A computerprogram product tangibly stored in a non-transitory computer storagemedium and comprising machine-executable instructions, wherein themachine-executable instructions, when executed by a device, cause thedevice to execute a method for managing virtual visual content, themethod comprising: determining a content portions from virtual visualcontent to be interacted with a user, the content portions havingdifferent change frequencies; and transmitting the content portions to aplurality respective computing devices, at least some of the computingdevices having different proximities to the user; wherein transmittingthe content portions is determined based on at least the changefrequencies of the virtual visual content and on proximities of therespective computing devices to the user.
 20. The computer programproduct according to claim 19, wherein determining the content portionsfrom the virtual visual content comprises: determining a static contentportion and a dynamic content portion from the virtual visual content,the change frequency of the dynamic content portion being higher thanthat of the static content portion.